Tagging Physical Resources In A Cloud Computing Environment

ABSTRACT

A cloud system may create physical resource tags to store relationships between cloud computing offerings, such as computing service offerings, storage offerings, and network offerings, and the specific physical resources in the cloud computing environment. Cloud computing offerings may be presented to cloud customers, the offerings corresponding to various combinations of computing services, storage, networking, and other hardware or software resources. After a customer selects one or more cloud computing offerings, a cloud resource manager or other component within the cloud infrastructure may retrieve a set of tags and determine a set of physical hardware resources associated with the selected offerings. The physical hardware resources associated with the selected offerings may be subsequently used to provision and create the new virtual machine and its operating environment.

FIELD

This application generally relates to creating and managing virtualmachines. In particular, this application relates to provisioningvirtual machines on specific physical resources in a cloud computingenvironment using physical resource tags.

BACKGROUND

Traditionally, personal computers include combinations of operatingsystems, applications, and user settings, which are each managedindividually by owners or administrators on an ongoing basis. However,many organizations are now using desktop virtualization to provide amore flexible option to address the varying needs of their users. Indesktop virtualization, a user's computing environment (e.g., operatingsystem, applications, and/or user settings) may be separated from theuser's physical computing device (e.g., smartphone, laptop, desktopcomputer). Using client-server technology, a “virtualized desktop” maybe stored in and administered by a remote server, rather than in thelocal storage of the client computing device.

There are several different types of desktop virtualization systems. Asan example, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) refers to the processof running a user desktop inside a virtual machine that resides on aserver. VDI and other server-based desktop virtualization systems mayprovide personalized desktops for each user, while allowing forcentralized management and security. Servers in such systems may includestorage for virtual desktop images and system configuration information,as well as software components to provide the virtual desktops and allowusers to interconnect to them. For example, a VDI server may include oneor more hypervisors (virtual machine managers) to create and maintainmultiple virtual machines, software to manage the hypervisor(s), aconnection broker, and software to provision and manage the virtualdesktops.

Desktop virtualization systems may be implemented using a singlevirtualization server or a combination of servers interconnected as aserver grid. For example, a cloud computing environment, or cloudsystem, may include a pool of computing resources (e.g., desktopvirtualization servers), storage disks, networking hardware, and otherphysical resources that may be used to provision virtual desktops, alongwith additional computing devices to provide management and customerportals for the cloud system. Cloud systems may dynamically create andmanage virtual machines for customers over a network, providing remotecustomers with computational resources, data storage services,networking capabilities, and computer platform and application support.For example, a customer in a cloud system may request a new virtualmachine having a specified processor speed and memory, and a specifiedamount of disk storage. Within the cloud system, a resource manager mayselect a set of available physical resources from the cloud resourcepool (e.g., servers, storage disks) and may provision and create a newvirtual machine in accordance with the customer's specified computingparameters. Cloud computing environments may service multiple customerswith private and/or public components, and may be configured to providevarious specific services, including web servers, security systems,development environments, user interfaces, and the like.

SUMMARY

In light of the foregoing background, the following presents asimplified summary of the present disclosure in order to provide a basicunderstanding of some aspects described herein. This summary is not anextensive overview, and is not intended to identify key or criticalelements or to delineate the scope of the claims. The following summarymerely presents various described aspects in a simplified form as aprelude to the more detailed description provided below.

In order to address the above shortcomings and additional benefits thatwill be realized upon reading the disclosure, aspects herein describesystems and methods for provisioning and creating virtual machines andother offerings in a cloud computing environment using tags (e.g.,electronic labels) associated with physical hardware resources. In oneexample, a set of tags is created and stored in a database or otherstorage describing associations between cloud computing offerings andspecific physical resources in the cloud computing environment. One ormore offerings corresponding to various combinations of computingservices, storage, networking, and other hardware or software resources,may be presented to cloud customers. After a customer selects one ormore cloud computing offerings, a cloud resource manager or othercomponent within the cloud system may retrieve a set of tags anddetermine a set of physical hardware resources associated with theselected offerings. Then, the new virtual machine and its operatingenvironment may be provisioned and created using the physical hardwareresources associated with the selected offerings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described aspects of the disclosure in general terms,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example operating environment in which variousaspects of the disclosure may be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates a computing device that may be used in accordancewith one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates a computing device that may be used in accordancewith one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram that depicts embodiments of a virtualizationserver in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram that depicts embodiments of a cloudcomputing environment in accordance with one or more illustrativeaspects described herein.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating an example process of creating avirtual machine using physical resource tags in a cloud computingenvironment in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate example tables relating physical resourcetags, offerings, and physical resources in a cloud computing environmentin accordance with one or more illustrative aspects described herein.

FIG. 7C illustrates an example user interface presenting a set of cloudcomputing offerings in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and inwhich is shown by way of illustration various embodiments in whichaspects described herein may be practiced. It is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and structural and functionalmodifications may be made without departing from the scope and spirit ofthe present disclosure.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art upon reading thefollowing disclosure, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a data processing system, or a computer program product.Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combiningsoftware and hardware aspects. Furthermore, such aspects may take theform of a computer program product stored by one or morecomputer-readable storage media having computer-readable program code,or instructions, embodied in or on the storage media. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various signals representing data orevents as described herein may be transferred between a source and adestination in the form of electromagnetic waves traveling throughsignal-conducting media such as metal wires, optical fibers, and/orwireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).

FIG. 1 illustrates an example block diagram of a generic computingdevice 101 (e.g., a computer server 106 a) in an example computingenvironment 100 that may be used according to one or more illustrativeembodiments of the disclosure. According to one or more aspects, genericcomputing device 101 may be a server 106 a in a single-server ormulti-server desktop virtualization system (e.g., a cloud system)configured to provide virtual machines for client access devices. Thegeneric computing device 101 may have a processor 103 for controllingoverall operation of the server and its associated components, includingrandom access memory (RAM) 105, read-only memory (ROM) 107, input/output(I/O) module 109, and memory 115.

I/O module 109 may include a mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner,optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which auser of generic computing device 101 may provide input, and may alsoinclude one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a videodisplay device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/or graphicaloutput. Software may be stored within memory 115 and/or other storage toprovide instructions to processor 103 for enabling generic computingdevice 101 to perform various functions. For example, memory 115 maystore software used by the generic computing device 101, such as anoperating system 117, application programs 119, and an associateddatabase 121. Alternatively, some or all of the computer executableinstructions for generic computing device 101 may be embodied inhardware or firmware (not shown).

The generic computing device 101 may operate in a networked environmentsupporting connections to one or more remote computers, such asterminals 140 (also referred to as client devices). The terminals 140may be personal computers or servers that include many or all of theelements described above with respect to the generic computing device101. The network connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local areanetwork (LAN) 125 and a wide area network (WAN) 129, but may alsoinclude other networks. When used in a LAN networking environment, thegeneric computing device 101 may be connected to the LAN 125 through anetwork interface or adapter 123. When used in a WAN networkingenvironment, the generic computing device 101 may include a modem 127 orother network interface for establishing communications over the WAN129, such as computer network 130 (e.g., the Internet). It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used.

Generic computing device 101 and/or terminals 140 may also be mobileterminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, notebooks, etc.)including various other components, such as a battery, speaker, andantennas (not shown).

The disclosure is operational with numerous other general purpose orspecial purpose computing system environments or configurations.Examples of well-known computing systems, environments, and/orconfigurations that may be suitable for use with the disclosure include,but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-heldor laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems,set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs,minicomputers, mainframe computers, distributed computing environmentsthat include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, one or more client devices 140 may be incommunication with one or more servers 106 a-106 n (generally referredto herein as “server(s) 106”). In one embodiment, the computingenvironment 100 can include an appliance installed between the server(s)106 and client machine(s) 140. This appliance can manage client/serverconnections, and in some cases can load balance client connectionsamongst a plurality of backend servers 106.

The client machine(s) 140 can in some embodiment be referred to as asingle client machine 140 or a single group of client machines 140,while server(s) 106 may be referred to as a single server 106 or asingle group of servers 106. In one embodiment a single client machine140 communicates with more than one server 106, while in anotherembodiment a single server 106 communicates with more than one clientmachine 140. In yet another embodiment, a single client machine 140communicates with a single server 106.

A client machine 140 can, in some embodiments, be referenced by any oneof the following terms: client machine(s) 140; client(s); clientcomputer(s); client device(s); client computing device(s); localmachine; remote machine; client node(s); endpoint(s); endpoint node(s);or a second machine. The server 106, in some embodiments, may bereferenced by any one of the following terms: server(s), local machine;remote machine; server farm(s), host computing device(s), or a firstmachine(s).

In one embodiment, the client machine 140 may be a virtual machine. Thevirtual machine may be any virtual machine, while in some embodimentsthe virtual machine may be any virtual machine managed by a hypervisordeveloped by Citrix Systems, IBM, VMware, or any other hypervisor. Insome aspects, the virtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor, whilein aspects the virtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor executingon a server 106 or a hypervisor executing on a client 140.

The client machine 140 may execute, operate or otherwise provide anapplication that can be any one of the following: software; a program;executable instructions; a virtual machine; a hypervisor; a web browser;a web-based client; a client-server application; a thin-client computingclient; an ActiveX control; a Java applet; software related to voiceover internet protocol (VoIP) communications like a soft IP telephone;an application for streaming video and/or audio; an application forfacilitating real-time-data communications; a HTTP client; a FTP client;an Oscar client; a Telnet client; or any other set of executableinstructions. Still other embodiments include a client device 140 thatdisplays application output generated by an application remotelyexecuting on a server 106 or other remotely located machine. In theseembodiments, the client device 140 can display the application output inan application window, a browser, or other output window. In oneexample, the application is a desktop, while in other examples theapplication is an application that generates a desktop. A desktop mayinclude a graphical shell providing a user interface for an instance ofan operating system in which local and/or remote applications can beintegrated. Applications, as used herein, are programs that executeafter an instance of an operating system (and, optionally, also thedesktop) has been loaded.

The server 106, in some embodiments, executes a remote presentationclient or other client or program that uses a thin-client orremote-display protocol to capture display output generated by anapplication executing on a server 106 and transmits the applicationdisplay output to a remote client 140. The thin-client or remote-displayprotocol can be any one of the following protocols: the IndependentComputing Architecture (ICA) protocol manufactured by Citrix Systems,Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.

The computing environment can include more than one server 106A-106Nsuch that the servers 106A-106N are logically grouped together into aserver farm 106, for example, in a cloud computing environment. Theserver farm 106 can include servers 106 that are geographicallydispersed and logically grouped together in a server farm 106, orservers 106 that are located proximate to each other and logicallygrouped together in a server farm 106. Geographically dispersed servers106A-106N within a server farm 106 can, in some embodiments, communicateusing a WAN, MAN, or LAN, where different geographic regions can becharacterized as: different continents; different regions of acontinent; different countries; different states; different cities;different campuses; different rooms; or any combination of the precedinggeographical locations. In some embodiments the server farm 106 may beadministered as a single entity, while in other embodiments the serverfarm 106 can include multiple server farms 106.

In some embodiments, a server farm 106 can include servers 106 thatexecute a substantially similar type of operating system platform (e.g.,WINDOWS NT, manufactured by Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash., UNIX,LINUX, or SNOW LEOPARD.) In other embodiments, the server farm 106 caninclude a first group of servers 106 that execute a first type ofoperating system platform, and a second group of servers 106 thatexecute a second type of operating system platform. The server farm 106,in other embodiments, can include servers 106 that execute differenttypes of operating system platforms.

The server 106, in some embodiments, can be any server type. In otherembodiments, the server 106 can be any of the following server types: afile server; an application server; a web server; a proxy server; anappliance; a network appliance; a gateway; an application gateway; agateway server; a virtualization server; a deployment server; a SSL VPNserver; a firewall; a web server; an application server or as a masterapplication server; a server 106 executing an active directory; or aserver 106 executing an application acceleration program that providesfirewall functionality, application functionality, or load balancingfunctionality. In some embodiments, a server 106 may be a RADIUS serverthat includes a remote authentication dial-in user service. Inembodiments where the server 106 comprises an appliance, the server 106can be an appliance manufactured by any one of the followingmanufacturers: the Citrix Application Networking Group; Silver PeakSystems, Inc.; Riverbed Technology, Inc.; F5 Networks, Inc.; or JuniperNetworks, Inc. Some embodiments include a first server 106A thatreceives requests from a client machine 140, forwards the request to asecond server 106 n, and responds to the request generated by the clientmachine 140 with a response from the second server 106 n. The firstserver 106A can acquire an enumeration of applications available to theclient machine 140 and well as address information associated with anapplication server 106 hosting an application identified within theenumeration of applications. The first server 106A can then present aresponse to the client's request using a web interface, and communicatedirectly with the client 140 to provide the client 140 with access to anidentified application.

The server 106 can, in some embodiments, execute any one of thefollowing applications: a thin-client application using a thin-clientprotocol to transmit application display data to a client; a remotedisplay presentation application; any portion of the CITRIX ACCESS SUITEby Citrix Systems, Inc. like the METAFRAME or CITRIX PRESENTATIONSERVER; MICROSOFT WINDOWS Terminal Services manufactured by theMicrosoft Corporation; or an ICA client, developed by Citrix Systems,Inc. Another embodiment includes a server 106 that is an applicationserver such as: an email server that provides email services such asMICROSOFT EXCHANGE manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation; a web orInternet server; a desktop sharing server; a collaboration server; orany other type of application server. Still other embodiments include aserver 106 that executes any one of the following types of hostedservers applications: GOTOMEETING provided by Citrix Online Division,Inc.; WEBEX provided by WebEx, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.; or MicrosoftOffice LIVE MEETING provided by Microsoft Corporation.

Client machines 140 can, in some embodiments, be a client node thatseeks access to resources provided by a server 106. In otherembodiments, the server 106 may provide clients 140 or client nodes withaccess to hosted resources. The server 106, in some embodiments,functions as a master node such that it communicates with one or moreclients 140 or servers 106. In some embodiments, the master node canidentify and provide address information associated with a server 106hosting a requested application, to one or more clients 140 or servers106. In still other embodiments, the master node can be a server farm106, a client 140, a cluster of client nodes 140, or an appliance.

One or more clients 140 and/or one or more servers 106 can transmit dataover a network 130 installed between machines and appliances within thecomputing environment 100. The network 130 can comprise one or moresub-networks, and can be installed between any combination of theclients 140, servers 106, computing machines and appliances includedwithin the computing environment 100. In some embodiments, the network130 can be: a local-area network (LAN); a metropolitan area network(MAN); a wide area network (WAN); a primary network 104 comprised ofmultiple sub-networks located between the client machines 140 and theservers 106; a primary public network 130 (e.g., the Internet) with aprivate sub-network; a primary private network 130 with a publicsub-network; or a primary private network 130 with a privatesub-network. Still further embodiments include a network 130 that can beany of the following network types: a point to point network; abroadcast network; a telecommunications network; a data communicationnetwork; a computer network; an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)network; a SONET (Synchronous Optical Network) network; a SDH(Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) network; a wireless network; a wirelinenetwork; or a network that includes a wireless link where the wirelesslink can be an infrared channel or satellite band. The network topologyof the network 130 can differ within different embodiments, possiblenetwork topologies include: a bus network topology; a star networktopology; a ring network topology; a repeater-based network topology; ora tiered-star network topology. Additional embodiments may include anetwork of mobile telephone networks that use a protocol to communicateamong mobile devices, where the protocol can be any one of thefollowing: AMPS; TDMA; CDMA; GSM; GPRS UMTS; or any other protocol ableto transmit data among mobile devices.

Illustrated in FIG. 2 is an embodiment of a computing device 200, wherethe client machine 140 and server 106 illustrated in FIG. 1 may bedeployed as and/or executed on any embodiment of the computing device200 illustrated and described herein. Included within the computingdevice 200 is a system bus 250 that communicates with the followingcomponents: a central processing unit 221; a main memory 222; storagememory 228; an input/output (I/O) controller 223; display devices224A-224N; an installation device 216; and a network interface 218. Inone embodiment, the storage memory 228 includes: an operating system,software routines, and a client agent 220. The I/O controller 223, insome embodiments, is further connected to a keyboard 226, and a pointingdevice 227. Other embodiments may include an I/O controller 223connected to more than one input/output device 230A-230N.

FIG. 3 illustrates one embodiment of a computing device 300, where theclient machine 140 and server 106 illustrated in FIG. 1 can be deployedas and/or executed on any embodiment of the computing device 300illustrated and described herein. Included within the computing device300 is a system bus 350 that communicates with the following components:a bridge 370, and a first I/O device 330 a. In another embodiment, thebridge 370 is in further communication with the main central processingunit 321, where the central processing unit 321 can further communicatewith a second I/O device 330 b, a main memory 322, and a cache memory340. Included within the central processing unit 321, are I/O ports, amemory port 303, and a main processor.

Embodiments of the computing machine 300 can include a centralprocessing unit 321 characterized by any one of the following componentconfigurations: logic circuits that respond to and process instructionsfetched from the main memory unit 322; a microprocessor unit, such as:those manufactured by Intel Corporation; those manufactured by MotorolaCorporation; those manufactured by Transmeta Corporation of Santa Clara,Calif.; the RS/6000 processor such as those manufactured byInternational Business Machines; a processor such as those manufacturedby Advanced Micro Devices; or any other combination of logic circuits.Still other embodiments of the central processing unit 322 may includeany combination of the following: a microprocessor, a microcontroller, acentral processing unit with a single processing core, a centralprocessing unit with two processing cores, or a central processing unitwith more than one processing core.

While FIG. 3 illustrates a computing device 300 that includes a singlecentral processing unit 321, in some embodiments the computing device300 can include one or more processing units 321. In these embodiments,the computing device 300 may store and execute firmware or otherexecutable instructions that, when executed, direct the one or moreprocessing units 321 to simultaneously execute instructions or tosimultaneously execute instructions on a single piece of data. In otherembodiments, the computing device 300 may store and execute firmware orother executable instructions that, when executed, direct the one ormore processing units to each execute a section of a group ofinstructions. For example, each processing unit 321 may be instructed toexecute a portion of a program or a particular module within a program.

In some embodiments, the processing unit 321 can include one or moreprocessing cores. For example, the processing unit 321 may have twocores, four cores, eight cores, etc. In one embodiment, the processingunit 321 may comprise one or more parallel processing cores. Theprocessing cores of the processing unit 321, may in some embodimentsaccess available memory as a global address space, or in otherembodiments, memory within the computing device 300 can be segmented andassigned to a particular core within the processing unit 321. In oneembodiment, the one or more processing cores or processors in thecomputing device 300 can each access local memory. In still anotherembodiment, memory within the computing device 300 can be shared amongstone or more processors or processing cores, while other memory can beaccessed by particular processors or subsets of processors. Inembodiments where the computing device 300 includes more than oneprocessing unit, the multiple processing units can be included in asingle integrated circuit (IC). These multiple processors, in someembodiments, can be linked together by an internal high speed bus, whichmay be referred to as an element interconnect bus.

In embodiments where the computing device 300 includes one or moreprocessing units 321, or a processing unit 321 including one or moreprocessing cores, the processors can execute a single instructionsimultaneously on multiple pieces of data (SIMD), or in otherembodiments can execute multiple instructions simultaneously on multiplepieces of data (MIMD). In some embodiments, the computing device 100 caninclude any number of SIMD and MIMD processors.

The computing device 300, in some embodiments, can include a graphicsprocessor or a graphics processing unit (Not Shown). The graphicsprocessing unit can include any combination of software and hardware,and can further input graphics data and graphics instructions, render agraphic from the inputted data and instructions, and output the renderedgraphic. In some embodiments, the graphics processing unit can beincluded within the processing unit 321. In other embodiments, thecomputing device 300 can include one or more processing units 321, whereat least one processing unit 321 is dedicated to processing andrendering graphics.

One embodiment of the computing machine 300 includes a centralprocessing unit 321 that communicates with cache memory 340 via asecondary bus also known as a backside bus, while another embodiment ofthe computing machine 300 includes a central processing unit 321 thatcommunicates with cache memory via the system bus 350. The local systembus 350 can, in some embodiments, also be used by the central processingunit to communicate with more than one type of I/O device 330 a-330 n.In some embodiments, the local system bus 350 can be any one of thefollowing types of buses: a VESA VL bus; an ISA bus; an EISA bus; aMicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus; a PCI bus; a PCI-X bus; aPCI-Express bus; or a NuBus. Other embodiments of the computing machine300 include an I/O device 330 a-330 n that includes a video display 224that communicates with the central processing unit 321. Still otherversions of the computing machine 300 include a processor 321 connectedto an I/O device 330 a-330 n via any one of the following connections:HyperTransport, Rapid I/O, or InfiniBand. Further embodiments of thecomputing machine 300 include a processor 321 that communicates with oneI/O device 330 a using a local interconnect bus and a second I/O device330 b using a direct connection.

The computing device 300, in some embodiments, includes a main memoryunit 322 and cache memory 340. The cache memory 340 can be any memorytype, and in some embodiments can be any one of the following types ofmemory: SRAM; BSRAM; or EDRAM. Other embodiments include cache memory340 and a main memory unit 322 that can be any one of the followingtypes of memory: Static random access memory (SRAM), Burst SRAM orSynchBurst SRAM (BSRAM); Dynamic random access memory (DRAM); Fast PageMode DRAM (FPM DRAM); Enhanced DRAM (EDRAM), Extended Data Output RAM(EDO RAM); Extended Data Output DRAM (EDO DRAM); Burst Extended DataOutput DRAM (BEDO DRAM); Enhanced DRAM (EDRAM); synchronous DRAM(SDRAM); JEDEC SRAM; PC100 SDRAM; Double Data Rate SDRAM (DDR SDRAM);Enhanced SDRAM (ESDRAM); SyncLink DRAM (SLDRAM); Direct Rambus DRAM(DRDRAM); Ferroelectric RAM (FRAM); or any other type of memory. Furtherembodiments include a central processing unit 321 that can access themain memory 322 via: a system bus 350; a memory port 303; or any otherconnection, bus or port that allows the processor 321 to access memory322.

One embodiment of the computing device 200/300 provides support for anyone of the following installation devices 216: a CD-ROM drive, a CD-R/RWdrive, a DVD-ROM drive, tape drives of various formats, USB device, abootable medium, a bootable CD, a bootable CD for GNU/Linux distributionsuch as KNOPPIX®, a hard-drive or any other device suitable forinstalling applications or software. Applications can in someembodiments include a client agent 220, or any portion of a client agent220. The computing device 200/300 may further include a storage device228 that can be either one or more hard disk drives, or one or moreredundant arrays of independent disks; where the storage device isconfigured to store an operating system, software, programsapplications, or at least a portion of the client agent 220. A furtherembodiment of the computing device 200, 300 includes an installationdevice 216 that is used as the storage device 228.

The computing device 200, 300 may further include a network interface218 to interface to a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN)or the Internet through a variety of connections including, but notlimited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (e.g., 802.11,T1, T3, 56kb, X.25, SNA, DECNET), broadband connections (e.g., ISDN,Frame Relay, ATM, Gigabit Ethernet, Ethernet-over-SONET), wirelessconnections, or some combination of any or all of the above. Connectionscan also be established using a variety of communication protocols(e.g., TCP/IP, IPX, SPX, NetBIOS, Ethernet, ARCNET, SONET, SDH, FiberDistributed Data Interface (FDDI), RS232, RS485, IEEE 802.11, IEEE802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, CDMA, GSM, WiMax and directasynchronous connections). One version of the computing device 200, 300includes a network interface 218 able to communicate with additionalcomputing devices 200′, 300′ via any type and/or form of gateway ortunneling protocol such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Transport LayerSecurity (TLS), or the Citrix Gateway Protocol manufactured by CitrixSystems, Inc. Versions of the network interface 218 can comprise any oneof: a built-in network adapter; a network interface card; a PCMCIAnetwork card; a card bus network adapter; a wireless network adapter; aUSB network adapter; a modem; or any other device suitable forinterfacing the computing device 200, 300 to a network capable ofcommunicating and performing the methods and systems described herein.

Embodiments of the computing device 200, 300 include any one of thefollowing I/O devices 230 a-230 n: a keyboard 226; a pointing device227; mice; trackpads; an optical pen; trackballs; microphones; drawingtablets; video displays; speakers; inkjet printers; laser printers; anddye-sublimation printers; or any other input/output device able toperform the methods and systems described herein. An I/O controller 223may in some embodiments connect to multiple I/O devices 230 a-230 n tocontrol the one or more I/O devices. Some embodiments of the I/O devices230 a-230 n may be configured to provide storage or an installationmedium 216, while others may provide a universal serial bus (USB)interface for receiving USB storage devices such as the USB Flash Driveline of devices manufactured by Twintech Industry, Inc. Still otherembodiments include an I/O device 230 that may be a bridge between thesystem bus 250 and an external communication bus, such as: a USB bus; anApple Desktop Bus; an RS-232 serial connection; a SCSI bus; a FireWirebus; a FireWire 800 bus; an Ethernet bus; an AppleTalk bus; a GigabitEthernet bus; an Asynchronous Transfer Mode bus; a HIPPI bus; a SuperHIPPI bus; a SerialPlus bus; a SCI/LAMP bus; a FibreChannel bus; or aSerial Attached small computer system interface bus.

In some embodiments, the computing machine 200, 300 can connect tomultiple display devices 224 a-224 n, in other embodiments the computingdevice 100 can connect to a single display device 224, while in stillother embodiments the computing device 200, 300 connects to displaydevices 224 a-224 n that are the same type or form of display, or todisplay devices that are different types or forms. Embodiments of thedisplay devices 224 a-224 n can be supported and enabled by thefollowing: one or multiple I/O devices 230 a-230 n; the I/O controller223; a combination of I/O device(s) 230 a-230 n and the I/O controller223; any combination of hardware and software able to support a displaydevice 224 a-224 n; any type and/or form of video adapter, video card,driver, and/or library to interface, communicate, connect or otherwiseuse the display devices 224 a-224 n. The computing device 200, 300 mayin some embodiments be configured to use one or multiple display devices224A-224N, these configurations include: having multiple connectors tointerface to multiple display devices 224A-224N; having multiple videoadapters, with each video adapter connected to one or more of thedisplay devices 224A-224N; having an operating system configured tosupport multiple displays 224A-224N; using circuits and softwareincluded within the computing device 200 to connect to and use multipledisplay devices 224A-224N; and executing software on the main computingdevice 200 and multiple secondary computing devices to enable the maincomputing device 200 to use a secondary computing device's display as adisplay device 224A-224N for the main computing device 200. Still otherembodiments of the computing device 200 may include multiple displaydevices 224A-224N provided by multiple secondary computing devices andconnected to the main computing device 200 via a network.

In some embodiments, the computing machine 200 can execute any operatingsystem, while in other embodiments the computing machine 200 can executeany of the following operating systems: versions of the MICROSOFTWINDOWS operating systems such as WINDOWS 3.x; WINDOWS 95; WINDOWS 98;WINDOWS 2000; WINDOWS NT 3.51; WINDOWS NT 4.0; WINDOWS CE; WINDOWS XP;and WINDOWS VISTA; the different releases of the Unix and Linuxoperating systems; any version of the MAC OS manufactured by AppleComputer; OS/2, manufactured by International Business Machines; anyembedded operating system; any real-time operating system; any opensource operating system; any proprietary operating system; any operatingsystems for mobile computing devices; or any other operating system. Instill another embodiment, the computing machine 200 can execute multipleoperating systems. For example, the computing machine 200 can executePARALLELS or another virtualization platform that can execute or managea virtual machine executing a first operating system, while thecomputing machine 200 executes a second operating system different fromthe first operating system.

The computing machine 200 can be embodied in any one of the followingcomputing devices: a computing workstation; a desktop computer; a laptopor notebook computer; a server; a handheld computer; a mobile telephone;a portable telecommunication device; a media playing device; a gamingsystem; a mobile computing device; a netbook; a device of the IPODfamily of devices manufactured by Apple Computer; any one of thePLAYSTATION family of devices manufactured by the Sony Corporation; anyone of the Nintendo family of devices manufactured by Nintendo Co; anyone of the XBOX family of devices manufactured by the MicrosoftCorporation; or any other type and/or form of computing,telecommunications or media device that is capable of communication andthat has sufficient processor power and memory capacity to perform themethods and systems described herein. In other embodiments the computingmachine 100 can be a mobile device such as any one of the followingmobile devices: a JAVA-enabled cellular telephone or personal digitalassistant (PDA), such as the i55sr, i58sr, i85s, i88s, i90c, i95cl, orthe im1100, all of which are manufactured by Motorola Corp; the 6035 orthe 7135, manufactured by Kyocera; the i300 or i330, manufactured bySamsung Electronics Co., Ltd; the TREO 180, 270, 600, 650, 680, 700p,700w, or 750 smart phone manufactured by Palm, Inc; any computing devicethat has different processors, operating systems, and input devicesconsistent with the device; or any other mobile computing device capableof performing the methods and systems described herein. In still otherembodiments, the computing device 200 can be any one of the followingmobile computing devices: any one series of Blackberry, or otherhandheld device manufactured by Research In Motion Limited; the iPhonemanufactured by Apple Computer; Palm Pre; a Pocket PC; a Pocket PCPhone; or any other handheld mobile device.

In some embodiments, the computing device 200 may have differentprocessors, operating systems, and input devices consistent with thedevice. For example, in one embodiment, the computing device 200 is aTREO 180, 270, 600, 650, 680, 700p, 700w, or 750 smart phonemanufactured by Palm, Inc. In some of these embodiments, the TREO smartphone is operated under the control of the PalmOS operating system andincludes a stylus input device as well as a five-way navigator device.

In other embodiments the computing device 200 is a mobile device, suchas a JAVA-enabled cellular telephone or personal digital assistant(PDA), such as the i55sr, i58sr, i85s, i88s, i90c, i95cl, or the im1100,all of which are manufactured by Motorola Corp. of Schaumburg, Ill., the6035 or the 7135, manufactured by Kyocera of Kyoto, Japan, or the i300or i330, manufactured by Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., of Seoul, Korea.In some embodiments, the computing device 200 is a mobile devicemanufactured by Nokia of Finland, or by Sony Ericsson MobileCommunications AB of Lund, Sweden.

In still other embodiments, the computing device 200 is a Blackberryhandheld or smart phone, such as the devices manufactured by Research InMotion Limited, including the Blackberry 7100 series, 8700 series, 7700series, 7200 series, the Blackberry 7520, or the Blackberry Pearl 8100.In yet other embodiments, the computing device 200 is a smart phone,Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone, or other handheld mobile device supportingMicrosoft Windows Mobile Software. Moreover, the computing device 200can be any workstation, desktop computer, laptop or notebook computer,server, handheld computer, mobile telephone, any other computer, orother form of computing or telecommunications device that is capable ofcommunication and that has sufficient processor power and memorycapacity to perform the operations described herein.

In some embodiments, the computing device 200 is a digital audio player.In one of these embodiments, the computing device 200 is a digital audioplayer such as the Apple IPOD, IPOD Touch, IPOD NANO, and IPOD SHUFFLElines of devices, manufactured by Apple Computer of Cupertino, Calif. Inanother of these embodiments, the digital audio player may function asboth a portable media player and as a mass storage device. In otherembodiments, the computing device 200 is a digital audio player such asthe DigitalAudioPlayer Select MP3 players, manufactured by SamsungElectronics America, of Ridgefield Park, N.J., or the Motorola m500 orm25 Digital Audio Players, manufactured by Motorola Inc. of Schaumburg,Ill. In still other embodiments, the computing device 200 is a portablemedia player, such as the Zen Vision W, the Zen Vision series, the ZenPortable Media Center devices, or the Digital MP3 line of MP3 players,manufactured by Creative Technologies Ltd. In yet other embodiments, thecomputing device 200 is a portable media player or digital audio playersupporting file formats including, but not limited to, MP3, WAV,M4A/AAC, WMA Protected AAC, RIFF, Audible audiobook, Apple Losslessaudio file formats and .mov, .m4v, and .mp4 MPEG-4 (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC)video file formats.

In some embodiments, the computing device 200 comprises a combination ofdevices, such as a mobile phone combined with a digital audio player orportable media player. In one of these embodiments, the computing device200 is a Motorola RAZR or Motorola ROKR line of combination digitalaudio players and mobile phones. In another of these embodiments, thecomputing device 200 is an iPhone smartphone, manufactured by AppleComputer of Cupertino, Calif.

FIGS. 1-3 show a high-level architecture of an illustrative desktopvirtualization system. As shown, the desktop virtualization system maybe single-server or multi-server system, or cloud system, including atleast one virtualization server 106 configured to provide virtualdesktops and/or virtual applications to one or more client accessdevices 140. As used herein, a desktop refers to a graphical environmentor space in which one or more applications may be hosted and/orexecuted. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications, as used herein, areprograms that execute after an instance of an operating system (and,optionally, also the desktop) has been loaded. Each instance of theoperating system may be physical (e.g., one operating system per device)or virtual (e.g., many instances of an OS running on a single device).Each application may be executed on a local device, or executed on aremotely located device (e.g., remoted).

Having described in FIGS. 1-3 various examples of desktop virtualizationsystems, and certain software and functionality that may be included inservers 106 of such systems, the following paragraphs provide additionalexamples of various methods and systems relating to using physicalresource tags to create and provision virtual machines and theiroperating environments in a cloud computing environment.

Illustrated in FIG. 4 is one embodiment of a computer device 401configured as a virtualization server in a virtualization environment,for example, a single-server, multi-server, or cloud computingenvironment. The virtualization server 401 illustrated in FIG. 1 can bedeployed as and/or implemented by one or more embodiments of the server106 illustrated in FIG. 1 or the computing devices 200 and 300illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Included in virtualization server 401 is ahardware layer that can include one or more physical disks 404, one ormore physical devices 406, one or more physical processors 408 and aphysical memory 416. In some embodiments, firmware 412 can be storedwithin a memory element in the physical memory 416 and can be executedby one or more of the physical processors 408. The virtualization server401 may further include an operating system 414 that may be stored in amemory element in the physical memory 416 and executed by one or more ofthe physical processors 408. Still further, a hypervisor 402 may bestored in a memory element in the physical memory 416 and can beexecuted by one or more of the physical processors 408. Executing on oneor more of the physical processors 408 may be one or more virtualmachines 432A-C (generally 432). Each virtual machine 432 may have avirtual disk 426A-C and a virtual processor 428A-C. In some embodiments,a first virtual machine 432A may execute, on a virtual processor 428A, acontrol program 420 that includes a tools stack 424. In otherembodiments, one or more virtual machines 432B-C can executed, on avirtual processor 428B-C, a guest operating system 430A-B.

Further referring to FIG. 4, and in more detail, the virtualizationserver 401 may include a hardware layer 410 with one or more pieces ofhardware that communicate with the virtualization server 401. In someembodiments, the hardware layer 410 can include one or more physicaldisks 404, one or more physical devices 406, one or more physicalprocessors 408, and one or more memory 416. Physical components 404,406, 408, and 416 may include, for example, any of the componentsdescribed above in FIGS. 1-3. For instance, physical disks 404 mayinclude permanent memory storage, temporary memory storage, disk drives(e.g. optical, floppy, tape), hard disks, external hard drives, flashmemory, network-attached storage, a storage-area network, or any otherstorage repository that the virtualization server 401 can access.Physical devices 406 may include any device included in thevirtualization server 401 and/or any combination of devices included inthe virtualization server 401 and external devices that communicate withthe virtualization server 401. A physical device 406 may be, forexample, a network interface card, a video card, a keyboard, a mouse, aninput device, a monitor, a display device, speakers, an optical drive, astorage device, a universal serial bus connection, a printer, a scanner,a network element (e.g., router, firewall, network address translator,load balancer, virtual private network (VPN) gateway, Dynamic HostConfiguration Protocol (DHCP) router, etc.), or any device connected toor communicating with the virtualization server 401. The physical memory416 in the hardware layer 410 may include any type of memory. Thephysical memory 416 may store data, and in some embodiments may storeone or more programs, or set of executable instructions. FIG. 4illustrates an embodiment where firmware 412 is stored within thephysical memory 416 of the virtualization server 401. Programs orexecutable instructions stored in the physical memory 416 can beexecuted by the one or more processors 408 of the virtualization server401.

Virtualization server 401 may also include a hypervisor 402. In someembodiments, hypervisor 402 may be a program that executed by processors408 on the virtualization server 401 to create and manage any number ofvirtual machines 432. The hypervisor 402 can be referred to as a virtualmachine monitor, or platform virtualization software. In someembodiments, a hypervisor 402 can be any combination of executableinstructions and hardware that monitors virtual machines executing on acomputing machine. Hypervisor 402 may be Type 2 hypervisor, or ahypervisor that executes within an operating system 414 executing on thevirtualization server 401. A Type 2 hypervisor, in some embodiments,executes within an operating system 414 environment and virtual machinesexecute at a level above the hypervisor. In many embodiments, the Type 2hypervisor executes within the context of a user's operating system suchthat the Type 2 hypervisor interacts with the user's operating system.In other embodiments, one or more virtualization servers 401 in avirtualization environment may include a Type 1 hypervisor (Not Shown).A Type 1 hypervisor may execute on the virtualization server 401 bydirectly accessing the hardware and resources within the hardware layer410. That is, while a Type 2 hypervisor 402 accesses system resourcesthrough a host operating system 414, a Type 1 hypervisor may directlyaccess all system resources without needing a host operating system 414.A Type 1 hypervisor may execute directly on one or more physicalprocessors of 408 the virtualization server 401, and may include programdata stored in the physical memory 416.

The hypervisor 402, in some embodiments, can provide virtual resourcesto operating systems 430 or control programs 420 executing on virtualmachines 432 in any manner that simulates the operating systems 430 orcontrol programs 420 having direct access to system resources. Systemresources can include: physical devices 406; physical disks; physicalprocessors; physical memory 416 and any other component included in thevirtualization server 401 hardware layer 410. In these embodiments, thehypervisor 402 may be used to emulate virtual hardware, partitionphysical hardware, virtualize physical hardware, or execute virtualmachines that provide access to computing environments. In still otherembodiments, the hypervisor 402 controls processor scheduling and memorypartitioning for a virtual machine 432 executing on the virtualizationserver 401. Hypervisor 402 may include those manufactured by VMWare,Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif.; the XEN hypervisor, an open source productwhose development is overseen by the open source Xen.org community;HyperV, VirtualServer or virtual PC hypervisors provided by Microsoft,or others. In some embodiments, a virtualization server 401 executes ahypervisor 402 that creates a virtual machine platform on which guestoperating systems may execute. In these embodiments, the virtualizationserver 401 can be referred to as a host server. An example of such avirtualization server is the XEN SERVER provided by Citrix Systems,Inc., of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The hypervisor 402 may create one or more virtual machines 432B-C(generally 432) in which guest operating systems 430 execute. In someembodiments, the hypervisor 402 may load a virtual machine image tocreate a virtual machine 432. In other embodiments, the hypervisor 402may executes a guest operating system 430 within the virtual machine432. In still other embodiments, the virtual machine 432 may execute theguest operating system 430.

In addition to creating virtual machines 432, the hypervisor 402 maycontrol the execution of at least one virtual machine 432. In otherembodiments, the hypervisor 402 may presents at least one virtualmachine 432 with an abstraction of at least one hardware resourceprovided by the virtualization server 401 (e.g., any hardware resourceavailable within the hardware layer 410). In other embodiments, thehypervisor 402 may control the manner in which virtual machines 432access the physical processors 408 available in the virtualizationserver 401. Controlling access to the physical processors 408 mayinclude determining whether a virtual machine 432 should have access toa processor 408, and how physical processor capabilities are presentedto the virtual machine 432.

As shown in the example of FIG. 4, the virtualization server 401 mayhost or execute one or more virtual machines 432. A virtual machine 432is a set of executable instructions that, when executed by a processor408, imitate the operation of a physical computer such that the virtualmachine 432 can execute programs and processes much like a physicalcomputing device. While FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment where avirtualization server 401 hosts three virtual machines 432, in otherembodiments the virtualization server 401 can host any number of virtualmachines 432. The hypervisor 402, in some embodiments, provides eachvirtual machine 432 with a unique virtual view of the physical hardware,memory, processor and other system resources available to that virtualmachine 432. In some embodiments, the unique virtual view can be basedon any of the following: virtual machine permissions; application of apolicy engine to one or more virtual machine identifiers; the useraccessing a virtual machine; the applications executing on a virtualmachine; networks accessed by a virtual machine; or any other similarcriteria. For instance, the hypervisor 402 may create one or moreunsecure virtual machines 432 and one or more secure virtual machines432. Unsecure virtual machines 432 may be prevented from accessingresources, hardware, memory locations, and programs that secure virtualmachines 432 may be permitted to access. In other embodiments, thehypervisor 402 may provide each virtual machine 432 with a substantiallysimilar virtual view of the physical hardware, memory, processor andother system resources available to the virtual machines 432.

Each virtual machine 432 may include a virtual disk 426A-C (generally426) and a virtual processor 428A-C (generally 428.) The virtual disk426, in some embodiments, is a virtualized view of one or more physicaldisks 404 of the virtualization server 401, or a portion of one or morephysical disks 404 of the virtualization server 401. The virtualizedview of the physical disks 404 can be generated, provided and managed bythe hypervisor 402. In some embodiments, the hypervisor 402 provideseach virtual machine 432 with a unique view of the physical disks 404.Thus, in these embodiments, the virtual disk 426 included in eachvirtual machine 432 can be unique when compared with the other virtualdisks 426.

A virtual processor 428 can be a virtualized view of one or morephysical processors 408 of the virtualization server 401. In someembodiments, the virtualized view of the physical processors 408 can begenerated, provided and managed by the hypervisor 402. In someembodiments, the virtual processor 428 has substantially all of the samecharacteristics of at least one physical processor 408. In otherembodiments, the virtual processor 408 provides a modified view of thephysical processors 408 such that at least some of the characteristicsof the virtual processor 428 are different than the characteristics ofthe corresponding physical processor 408.

Illustrated in FIG. 5 is one embodiment of a cloud computing environmentincluding a cloud system comprising a pool of cloud hardware andsoftware resources 510-530. The cloud system may be configured toprovide computing services to clients 550 a-550 n (generally 550) over anetwork 540. For example, the cloud system in FIG. 5 may be configuredto provision, create, and manage virtual machines and their operatingenvironments (e.g., hypervisors, storage resources, services offered bythe network elements, etc.) for customers at client computers 550, overa network 540 (e.g., the Internet), to provide customers withcomputational resources, data storage services, networking capabilities,and computer platform and application support. Cloud systems also may beconfigured to provide various specific services, including securitysystems, development environments, user interfaces, and the like. Thecloud hardware and software resources 510-530 may include private and/orpublic components. For example, a cloud may be configured as a privatecloud to be used by one or more particular customers or client computers550 and/or over a private network 540. In other embodiments, publicclouds or hybrid public-private clouds may be used by other customersover an open or hybrid networks 540.

Cloud systems may include an arrangement of various physical hardwarecomponents 510, for example, physical computing resources (or computeresources), physical network resources, physical storage resources,switches, and additional hardware resources that may be used to providecloud computing service to customers. The physical computing resourcesin a cloud computing environment may include one or more computerservers, such as the virtualization servers 410 described above, whichmay be configured to create and host virtual machine instances. Thephysical network resources in a cloud computing environment may includeone or more network service providers (i.e., network elements)comprising hardware and/or software which are configured to provide anetwork service to cloud customers, for example, firewalls, networkaddress translators, load balancers, virtual private network (VPN)gateways, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) routers, and thelike. The storage resources in the cloud system may include storagedisks (e.g., solid state drives (SSDs), magnetic hard disks, etc.) andother storage devices.

In certain embodiments, cloud systems may include a virtualization layer520 with additional hardware and/or software resources configured tocreate and manage virtual machines and provide other computing servicesto customers with the physical resources 510 in the cloud. Thevirtualization layer 520 may include hypervisors, as described above inFIG. 4, along with other specialized components to provide networkvirtualizations, storage virtualizations, etc. Although FIG. 5 shows thevirtualization layer 520 as a separate layer from the physical resourcelayer 510, in some embodiments these layers may share some or all of thesame hardware and/or software resources. For example, the virtualizationlayer 520 and may include hypervisors installed each of thevirtualization servers with the physical computing resources.

The cloud user interface layer 535 may include one or more hardware andsoftware components that provide the interface through which cloudoperators or administrators, and cloud customers, interact with thecloud system. For example, the cloud user interface layer 535 mayinclude one or more cloud operator console applications with userinterfaces configured to allow cloud operators to manage cloud resources510, configure the virtualization layer 520, manage customer accounts,and perform other cloud administration tasks. The cloud user interfacelayer 535 also may include one or more customer console applicationswith user interfaces configured to receive cloud computing requests fromcustomers via client computers 550, such as, requests to create, modify,or delete virtual machine instances, requests for cloud data storage,network services, etc.

After receiving a customer request via a cloud user interface 535, thecloud resource manager 530 may select and provision physical resourcesin the hardware layer 510 based on the customer's request. For example,if a cloud customer requests a new instance of a virtual machine,including processing capacity, disk storage, and network capabilities,the resource manager 530 may determine the specific physicalvirtualization server, physical storage disk(s), and physical networkelement(s) to use when creating the new virtual machine. Thedetermination of the specific hardware resources may be based on anumber of factors, for example, the physical location of the resources(e.g., a zone or datacenter), the performance characteristics of theresources (e.g., speed and reliability), the type of computing servicerequested (e.g., a virtual web server instance, a virtual applicationserver instance, etc.), the current capacity of the resources (e.g., anumber of existing virtual machine instances on the host server, anamount of available disk space on a storage resource), and otherfactors. After determining the specific hardware resources to be used,the cloud resource manager 530 may communicate with the appropriatecomponents within the virtualization layer 520 to provision andinstantiate the new virtual machine and its operating environment, andany other cloud computing requests, using the selected resources.Additionally, in some embodiments, certain physical hardware components510 (e.g., the physical network resources and physical storageresources) may be configured directly by the cloud resource manager 530,instead of going through the virtualization layer 520. In someinstances, the cloud resource manager 530 and/or the cloudvirtualization layer 520 may be implemented via a cloud infrastructureplatform such as CLOUDSTACK by Citrix Systems or OPENSTACK.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a flowchart is shown illustrating an examplemethod using tags to create a virtual machine instance in a cloudcomputing environment. A tag refers to an electronic label associatedwith a specific physical resource (e.g., a virtualization server,storage disk, or network element, etc.) in a cloud computingenvironment. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, tags may be stored asindividual pieces of data (e.g., under the TAG_ID column) in a databasetable or other storage within a cloud system. A shown in table 700 a, asingle tag may be associated with a single physical resource (e.g.,TAG_ID=“1”), or may be associated with multiple different resources(e.g., TAG_ID=“2). Similarly, a single physical resource may beassociated with a single tag (e.g., “Storage A”), or may be associatedwith multiple different tags (e.g., “Host C”). Although these examplesdescribe tags as data stored in a database maintained by the cloudsystem, in other examples tags may be stored as electronic data on thephysical resources themselves (e.g., a device serial number or otherresource identifier).

The method shown in FIG. 6 and other similar examples described hereinmay be performed in a computing environment such as the cloud systemillustrated in FIG. 5, as well as other cloud systems having differentcloud architectures. As discussed below, the example in FIG. 6 relatesto creating a new virtual machine instance based on tags for specificphysical hardware resources in the cloud. However, physical resourcetagging also may be used for other cloud services, for example,modifying an existing virtual machine instance to change the compute,storage, or network capabilities of the virtual machine, reconfiguring acloud customer's network of virtual machines, deleting one or morevirtual machine instances, etc.

In step 601, one or more of the physical hardware resources in a cloudcomputing environment may be designated with one or more tags by a cloudoperator or administrator. For example, an IT employee, manager, oradministrator of a cloud computing system (e g, running a CLOUDSTACK orOPENSTACK cloud infrastructure platform) may assign different tags todifferent specific pieces of physical hardware in the cloud environment.Referring to FIG. 7A, this example shows a table 700 a containing a setof tags associated with a set physical resources in a cloud computingenvironment. As illustrated in this example, tags assigned to physicalresources may correspond to one or more attributes of those resources.For example, a tag may represent a measure of performance or reliabilityof the physical resource, the manufacturer of the resource, or thephysical installation location of the resource within the cloud, etc.However, tags need not represent attributes of physical resources, butmay be assigned by cloud operators or administrators based on anycriteria deemed appropriate. Tags may be assigned to physical computingresources (e.g., virtualization servers for hosting), physical storageresources (e.g., storage disks), physical network resource (e.g.,network elements), or any other piece of physical hardware in the cloudcomputing environment. As illustrated in FIG. 7A, in some embodimentsmultiple tags may be assigned to a single physical resource, and someresources may have no tags assigned.

Physical resource tags may be created and stored in one or more databasetables, files, or other storage accessible to the cloud resourcemanager. For example, a physical resource tag database may beestablished on a cloud control computer running cloud system software(e.g., CLOUDSTACK). As discussed above, the cloud system software mayinclude one or more cloud operator consoles (e.g., within cloud userinterface layer 535) to allow the cloud operator to view, create,modify, and delete tags, and to change the assignments and associationsbetween tags and specific physical resources.

In step 602, one or more of the resource tags created or modified instep 601 may be associated with one or more cloud computing offeringsprovided by the cloud system. A cloud computing offering as used hereinrefers to a predetermined combination of one or more computingresources, storage resources, networking resources, and/or otherhardware or software resources which may be offered to customers by acloud operator. In some examples, when a cloud customer connects to thecloud customer console 535 and requests a new virtual machine, thecustomer console may present a user interface to the customer showingpredetermined combinations of virtual machine templates, functionalspecifications, and/or features which may be selected by the customer,rather than requiring the customer to individually choose every hardwareand software feature for the new virtual machine. For example, a firstservice offering for a small virtual machine may specify a processorspeed (e.g., in MHz or GHz) and an amount of memory (e.g., in MB or GB),while a second service offering for a larger virtual machine may specifya faster processor speed and a greater amount of memory. Similarly, afirst small disk offering for a new virtual machine may specify anamount of disk space (e.g., in GB) while a second larger disk offeringmay specify a greater amount of disk space. In some examples, cloudcomputing offerings (e.g., virtual machine templates, service offerings,disk offerings, network offerings, etc.) may be defined by the cloudoperator based on the physical resources available in the cloud, or maybe defined by the customer based on the customer's requirements andpreferences for virtual machines and other cloud resources, or both.

Associating physical resource tags with cloud computing offerings instep 602 may be performed using one or more database tables, files, orother storage means, similar to the process of assigning tags tophysical resources in step 601. For example, a table relating offeringsand resource tags may be established on a cloud control computer runningcloud system software, and a cloud operator console or other userinterfaces may be provided to allow the cloud operator or administratorto view, create, modify, and delete associations between cloud computingofferings and resource tags. Referring to FIG. 7B, this example shows atable 700 b containing a set of offerings associated with physicalresource tags. As illustrated in FIG. 7B, in some embodiments a tag maybe associated with multiple offerings, or vice versa, and some offeringsmay be associated with no tags. Additionally, although the associationsbetween physical resources, tags, and offerings are shown in separatetables in the examples of FIGS. 7A and 7B, other table structures orother storage designs may be used in other examples. For instance, incertain embodiments, physical resources may be tagged within a singletable containing an offering column and a physical resource column,without needing a separate tag column and/or multiple related tables.

In step 603, the cloud operator provides one or more virtual machineofferings to a cloud customer. As discussed above, cloud system software(e.g., a cloud infrastructure platform such as CLOUDSTACK, OPENSTACK,etc.) may provide a customer console application or other user interface535 to allow cloud customers to connect remotely from client machines550, and to create and manage their virtual machines and other cloudresources. In this example, a customer may connect via a customerconsole to the cloud system and request that a new virtual machine becreated for the customer's organization. In response to the customer'srequest, the cloud system may retrieve and display to the customer a setof available offerings for the new virtual machine. As noted above, theavailable offerings may be based on the physical resources in the cloud,the customer's service plan, requirements, preferences (e.g., customertemplates, platform requirements, software application requirements,etc.) for virtual machines in the customer's organization. Additionally,as discussed above, although this example relates to creating a newvirtual machine, other embodiments may provide similar offerings tocustomers performing other cloud services, for example, modifyingexisting virtual machine instances by changing the compute, storage, ornetwork capabilities of the virtual machine, reconfiguring a cloudcustomer's network of virtual machines, deleting one or more virtualmachine instances, etc. Referring to FIG. 7C, this example shows anillustrative user interface 700 c (e.g., from a customer consoleapplication) which displays a set of offerings that may be selected by acustomer when creating a new virtual machine.

In step 604, the customer selects one or more offerings for creating thenew virtual machine via the customer console or other user interface,and the cloud system receives the selected offerings. For example, acustomer may have selected a service offering corresponding to a virtualmachine having a processor speed of 4 GHz and 4 GB of memory.Additionally, the customer may have selected a disk offering indicatingthat the new virtual machine should include 32 GB of disk storage, and anetwork offering indicating that Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DHCP) should be available on the new virtual machine. In someembodiments, these offers may be priced, presented and selectedindividually, while in other embodiments, combinations of one or moreservice offerings, disk offerings, and network offerings may be pricedand combined into a single offer that may be selected by the customer.

In step 605, the cloud system (e.g., cloud resource manager 530)retrieves one or more resource tags associated with the offering(s)selected by the customer. As discussed above, associations between cloudcomputing offerings and physical resource tags may be stored in one ormore database tables, files, or other storage means accessible to thecloud system software. Thus, retrieving resource tags associated withthe selected offering(s) may include accessing a database tablecontaining a relationship between tags and offerings, or another storagewhere the associations may be maintained. Referring again to theexamples shown in FIGS. 7A-7C, if a user selects a first virtual machineoffering 705 c (stored as “OFFER_(—)1”), then in step 605 a singlephysical resource tag with a TAG_ID of “2” may be retrieved. If the userselects a second virtual machine offering 710 c (stored as“OFFER_(—)2”), then the two tags having the TAG_ID's “1” and “6” may beretrieved.

In step 606, after retrieving the physical resource tags associated withthe selected cloud offering(s), the cloud system software (e.g., cloudresource manager 530) may select a set of physical hardware resources tobe used in creating the new virtual machine, and may provision the newvirtual machine and its operating environment using the selectedphysical resources. For example, based on the offering(s) selected bythe customer, the cloud resource manager 530 may select a host serverfrom the physical computing resources in the cloud to host the virtualmachine, one or more physical storage resources to provide disk storagefor the virtual machine, and one or more physical network resources toprovide network services for the virtual machine.

In some embodiments, each physical resource selected in step 606 may beselected based on a physical resource tag associated with theoffering(s) selected by the customer. Referring again to the examplesshown in FIGS. 7A-7C, if the tag having a TAG_ID of “1” is associatedwith an offering selected with the customer, then in step 606 the hostserver named “Host A” may be selected based on the tag association intable 700 a to host the new virtual machine. In another example, if atag having a TAG_ID of “3” is associated with the selected offering(s),then in step 606 the server “Host B” may be selected to host the newvirtual machine, and a Cisco firewall router identified as“Net_Element_A” may be selected to provide firewall services for the newvirtual machine. Thus, in certain embodiments, every offering may beassociated with one or more tags, and every tag may be associated withone or more physical resources, so that the cloud resource manager 530may always determine without any ambiguity which specific physicalhardware resources should be used to provision each selected cloudcomputing offering and its operating environment.

However, in certain embodiments, the tags associated with the selectedoffering(s) might not completely determine the set of physical resourcesthat should be used to provision the selected offering. For example, thetags corresponding to the selected virtual machine offering(s) may beassociated with a subset of the physical cloud resources, thus allowingthe cloud resource manager 530 to select from the subset to provisionthe new virtual machine and its operating environment (e.g., hypervisor,storage resources, services offered by the network elements, etc.).Referring to FIGS. 7A-7C, if the customer selects a third serviceoffering (saved as “OFFER_(—)3”), then the associated tags (i.e.,TAG_ID's “1” and “5”) may allow the cloud resource manager 530 to hostthe new virtual machine either on “Host A” or “Host C.” In suchexamples, the cloud resource manager 530 may select between the subsetof physical resources based on various factors, such as, performance,reliability, price, proximity to other physical resources being used bythe same virtual machine or customer, and/or the current capacity of theavailable physical resources.

In other examples, the tags corresponding to the selected virtualmachine offering(s) may be associated with no physical resources for oneor more resource types. For instance, referring to FIGS. 7A-7C, if thecustomer selects a service offering associated with a tag having aTAG_ID of “5,” then the cloud resource manager 530 may provision a newvirtual machine on “Host C.” However, since there are no physicalstorage or network resources associated with TAG_ID “5”, the cloudresource manager 530 may determine the physical storage and networkresources for the new virtual machine based on other various factors, asdiscussed above. In a similar example, if the if the customer selects astorage offering associated with a tag having a TAG_ID of “7”, then thecloud resource manager 530 may use “Storage B” for the new virtualmachine's disk storage, but may select the physical host server andnetwork elements based on other factors.

In some embodiments, a cloud operator may configure the cloud systemsoftware to require physical tag associations for each resource type. Insuch embodiments, a cloud computing offering (e.g., service offering,storage offering, network offering, etc.) might only be presented tocustomers if the offering has tag associations to some or all of thenecessary physical resources required to provision the offering. Forinstance, when a cloud operator configures a set of cloud offerings, andassociates the cloud offerings with physical resources (e.g., via acloud operator console 535), the cloud system software may enforce oneor more rules by monitoring the associations between offerings, tags,and physical resources in order prevent any conflicts or inconsistenciesamong the associations. As an example, if a cloud operator attempts toconfigure a cloud offering to require a two pieces of physical hardwarethat are incompatible with each other, then the cloud system softwaremay reject the attempted configuration and require the cloud operator toremove or change the tag associations before the offering can be savedand presented to customers.

In some examples, based on the tag associations, it might not bepossible to provision a virtual machine and its operating environment(or other cloud offerings) with the proper physical resources at thetime the customer selects the offering. For example, referring to FIGS.7A-7C, if the customer selects offering 705 c (“OFFER_(—)1”) at a timewhen the associated virtualization server (“Host B”) is offline, or attime when the associated physical storage (“Storage B”) is full, thenthe requested virtual machine and its operating environment potentiallycannot be provisioned in accordance with the tag associations. In suchexamples, the cloud resource manager 530 may be configured to find aclosest available resource (e.g., based on performance criteria,reliability, physical location, etc.) to replace any physical hardwarethat cannot be used to provision the offering. In such examples, thedetermination of the different set of physical resources to use may beperformed automatically and may be transparent to the customer. In othercases, the customer may be notified of the change in physical resources(e.g., new functional parameters, attributes, prices, etc.) and/or maybe given an opportunity to select a different offering.

In some embodiments, the cloud system software may monitor the status ofthe physical resources in the cloud, and may update the tag associationsand offerings dynamically based on the availability of the resources.For instance, in the above example, if the physical storage disk“Storage B” is full and cannot currently support any additional virtualmachines, then the cloud system software may dynamically update thecurrent set of offerings to remove any offerings that have tagassociations with “Storage B.” In other examples, the offerings and tagassociations may be dynamically updated to replace “Storage B” withanother available storage disk. In such examples, when an originallytagged physical resource (e.g., server, storage disk, network element)becomes available once again, the cloud software may detect the changeand update the offerings and tag associations to refer to the originallytagged resource.

Aspects of the disclosure have been described in terms of illustrativeembodiments thereof. Numerous other embodiments, modifications, andvariations within the scope and spirit of the appended claims will occurto persons of ordinary skill in the art from a review of thisdisclosure. For example, one of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that the steps illustrated in the illustrative figures may beperformed in other than the recited order, and that one or more stepsillustrated may be optional in accordance with aspects of thedisclosure. Modifications may be made by those skilled in the art,particularly in light of the foregoing teachings. For example, each ofthe elements of the aforementioned embodiments may be utilized alone orin combination or sub-combination with elements of the otherembodiments. It will also be appreciated and understood thatmodifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia, storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by aprocessor, cause a system to: receive a request to create a virtualmachine in a cloud-computing environment; receive a selection of avirtual machine offering associated with the request to create thevirtual machine, the virtual machine offering comprising a set ofcharacteristics of a host computing device for the virtual machine, anda set of characteristics of one or more network elements to providenetworking capabilities for the virtual machine; in response to theselection of the virtual machine offering, access a storage systemstoring predetermined associations between virtual machine offerings andphysical resources in the cloud-computing environment; retrieve, fromthe storage system, a tag identifying a physical resource of thephysical resources in the cloud-computing environment, the tag beingretrieved based on a predetermined association between the physicalresource and the selected virtual machine offering; and provision thevirtual machine using the physical resource.
 2. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein thepredetermined associations between the virtual machine offerings and thephysical resources in the cloud-computing environment are establishedbefore receiving the request to create the virtual machine.
 3. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein thetag identifying the physical resource of the physical resources in thecloud-computing environment comprises an electronic label associatedwith the physical resource.
 4. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 3, wherein the electronic labelassociated with the physical resource comprises an entry in a tablestoring the predetermined associations between the virtual machineofferings and the physical resources in the cloud-computing environment.5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1,wherein the tag identifying the physical resource of the physicalresources in the cloud-computing environment further identifies adifferent physical resource of the physical resources in thecloud-computing environment.
 6. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 5, wherein the tag identifying thephysical resource and the different physical resource identifies one ormore hardware characteristics, and the physical resource and thedifferent physical resource have the one or more hardwarecharacteristics identified in the tag.
 7. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 1, wherein a different tag identifiesthe physical resource of the physical resources.
 8. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the storagesystem stores the predetermined associations between the virtual machineofferings and the physical resources in the cloud-computing environmentin a table comprising associations between tags, the virtual machineofferings, and the physical resources in the cloud-computingenvironment.
 9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediaof claim 1, storing further computer-executable instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, cause the system to: generate for display oneor more predetermined combinations of virtual machine offeringscomprising the virtual machine offering, each of the predeterminedcombinations of virtual machine offerings comprising one or morefunctional specifications of a virtual machine associated with therespective virtual machine offering.
 10. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the one or more functionalspecifications of the virtual machine associated with the respectivevirtual machine offering comprise a processor speed and an amount ofmemory for a host computing device for the virtual machine associatedwith the respective virtual machine offering.
 11. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein at least oneof the predetermined combinations of virtual machine offerings isgenerated based on input received from a user of the system.
 12. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein atleast one of the predetermined combinations of virtual machine offeringsis generated based on physical resources available in thecloud-computing environment.
 13. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media, storing computer-executable instructions that,when executed by a processor, cause a system to: receive a request tocreate a virtual machine in a cloud-computing environment, the requestto create the virtual machine identifying one or more requested hardwarecharacteristics for a physical resource running the virtual machine;access a storage system storing physical resource tags that identifyhardware characteristics of physical resources in the cloud-computingenvironment; retrieve, from the storage system, a physical resource tagidentifying a physical resource of the physical resources in thecloud-computing environment, the physical resource tag being retrievedbased on the identified physical resource having the one or morerequested hardware characteristics identified in the request to createthe virtual machine; and provision the virtual machine using thephysical resource identified by the physical resource tag.
 14. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein thephysical resource tag identifies a manufacturer of the identifiedphysical resource.
 15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 13, wherein the physical resource tag identifies ahardware reliability rating of the identified physical resource.
 16. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13, whereinthe physical resource tag identifies a measure of reliability of theidentified physical resource.
 17. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the physical resource tagidentifies a measure of performance of the identified physical resource.18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media, storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor,cause a system to: receive a request to create a virtual machine in acloud-computing environment; receive a selection of a cloud computingoffering associated with the request; retrieve from a storage system aphysical resource tag associated with the cloud computing offering, thestorage system storing a first table containing a set of physicalresource tags associated with a set of physical resources in thecloud-computing environment, the storage system storing a second tablecontaining a set of cloud-computing offerings associated with the set ofphysical resource tags; identify one or more physical resourcesassociated with the physical resource tag, the one or more physicalresources being of the set of physical resources in the cloud-computingenvironment; and create the virtual machine, wherein the virtual machineis configured to use the one or more physical resources associated withthe physical resource tag.
 19. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 18, storing further computer-executableinstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to:determine a plurality of subsets of the one or more physical resourcesassociated with the physical resource tag; and select a subset of theplurality of subsets for use by the virtual machine based on one or morefactors for selecting the one or more physical resources.
 20. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the oneor more factors for selecting the one or more physical resourcescomprise at least one of: physical proximity of the one or more physicalresources to a different physical resource being used by a device thatmade the request for the virtual machine, and current capacity of theone or more physical resources.